The Wild Nature Institute Conducts Scientific Research 
on Endangered Wildlife, and Inspires the Public to Protect Wild Nature.

The world is in the midst of a climate crisis that is made worse by a biodiversity crisis. Wild Nature Institute programs address these two crises at the same time through science, education, and action. Protecting Wild Nature and  Biodiversity is our best defense against the climate crisis. Our scientists conduct original field research, analyze existing available data, and synthesize primary scientific literature to inform education and actions that protect wild nature. Our main projects include Masai giraffe research and protection in Tanzania, saving the Tarangire wildebeest migration, native forest protection, and environmental education to teach children and adults the value of protecting wild nature. We support the Nature Needs Half movement, the Half Earth project, the Green New Deal, Extinction Rebellion, Climate Strike for Action, and other similar movements to protect our planetary life-support system. We disseminate our results in reports and peer-reviewed publications, presentations at scientific and management conferences, articles and editorials in the media, meetings with decision-makers, comments on land-management plans, and other innovative outlets such as the videos on this website. 

Our Staff and Partners:

Monica Bond, MS, is a wildlife biologist and biodiversity activist with nearly 20 years of experience in ecology of wildlife in fire-affected forests. Her extensive research on the use of severely burned forest by Spotted Owls and Black-backed Woodpeckers has led to increased protection of this habitat type from post-fire logging. As an advocate she has monitored public and private lands management activities to ensure adequate protection for imperiled species. She also studied space use by small mammals and Burrowing Owls in western grasslands, and demography of northern elephant seals and Hawaiian monk seals. Monica is affiliated with the University of Zurich where she studies giraffe social behavior.

Derek Lee, PhD, is a quantitative wildlife biologist with expertise in conservation demography and population ecology. He received a Fulbright Fellowship to study African ungulates, and is a Senior Ecologist in the Ecological Society of America. Current research investigates Masai Giraffe and other large mammal populations within a human-impacted landscape in Tanzania. This work examines how births, deaths, and movements of ungulates are impacted by increasingly fragmented wildlife habitat, and what conservation actions are most effective. He spent 10 years researching the impacts of climate and ocean conditions on survival, reproduction, and population growth rates of marine predators such as northern elephant seals, Common Murres, and Cassin's Auklets at the South Farallon Islands, California. His work was included in a conservation and management plan for seabirds in the California Current. He also studied migration of Black Brant in Humboldt Bay as well as fire ecology of small mammals in California's oak woodlands and California Spotted Owls in the Sierra Nevada. Derek is an Associate Research Professor at Pennsylvania State University.

James Madeli, BS, is the Research and Education Coordinator for Wild Nature Institute. James completed his bachelor of science degree in Wildlife Science and Conservation at the University of Dar es Salaam in fall 2017. He coordinates Wild Nature Institute's environmental education programs in primary and secondary schools throughout the Tarangire-Manyara Ecosystem and assists with the Masai Giraffe Conservation Demography and TUNGO research projects. 

Our International Team

Our Tanzanian Partners

Staff Email addresses: Firstname at wildnatureinstitute.org

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DOWNLOAD WILD NATURE INSTITUTE'S 2018 ANNUAL REPORT

DOWNLOAD WILD NATURE INSTITUTE'S 2017 ANNUAL REPORT

DOWNLOAD WILD NATURE INSTITUTE'S 2016 ANNUAL REPORT

DOWNLOAD WILD NATURE INSTITUTE'S 2015 ANNUAL REPORT

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Popular Media About Wild Nature Institute:

"Why A.I. trained to recognize giraffe torsos" in Futurity, "Toward automated animal identification in wildlife research" in Science Daily, "Machine Learning can be used for automating animal identification in wildlife research" in Express Computer, "Researchers work to find the giraffe in the bushes" in Phys.org, 2019

"Giraffes Calves Inherit Spot Patterns From Their Mothers" reported in more than 100 articles including Science News, National Geographic, NPR, and Smithsonian, 2018.

"Forest Fires Are Good For Spotted Owls" reported in Salon, EurekAlert,  Inverse, Science Alert, Long Room and Futurity.

"Community-Based Conservation Management Has Positive Effect on Wildlife" reported in Science Daily, Long Room, and Futurity, 2018.

"Surge in Wildlife Killings is Wiping Out Giraffes", Science Magazine, 22 June 2017

"Where Have All The Giraffes Gone?", On Point Radio, WBUR/NPR 2017

"Alumni Spotlight // Into the Wild", UC Santa Barbara Alumni Association 2016.

"Lions vs. Giraffes" episode for Nature Shock series produced by Tigress Productions. Aired on Smithsonian Channel 2013.

"Rare White Giraffe Discovered in Tanzania", more than 100 articles including: The Telegraph, National Geographic, CNN, Newsweek, Smithsonian, Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC, New York Post, Huffington Post, Philly.com, UPI, USA Today 2016

"Standing Tall for Tanzania's National Animal", Ujumbe Magazine 2015

"Safeguarding Giraffe Populations from Extinction in East Africa", National Geographic Voices 2014